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Even with a new season pending, the last Super Bowl still sticks in the memory bank
because it was such a good game — New England’s victory achieved on that final
drive with no margin for error, culminated by PK Adam Vinatieri’s field goal to upset
St. Louis.
Although Vinatieri and QB Tom Brady came away with the most plaudits, there was plenty
of praise for the work of Patriots CBs Ty Law and Otis Smith on the Rams’ speedy
receivers. That was impressive CB play.
It was too bad that the guy who defined, if not invented the position, Dick "Night
Train" Lane, failed to see the fine work of Law and Smith. Five days before the game
he died in Austin, Texas, from a heart attack. He was 73.
Lane, one of the first African-Americans to play in the NFL, came up the hard way. That
perfect nickname matched his perfection on the field.
"Best cornerback ever to play the game," former Packers CB and Hall of Famer
Herb Adderley said. "I’ve never seen a defensive back hit like him."
Lane used his size advantage (6-1, 194 pounds) against most of the contemporary
receivers and added the "Night Train Necktie," an arm-around-the-throat tackle
that was eventually outlawed. One time, while playing for the Lions against the Rams in
the Los Angeles Coliseum, Lane stuck his cocked arm out to stop Rams ace RB Jon Arnett and
clipped Arnett under the chin. The Rams runner flipped backward and lay on the turf for a
long time.
But what about the nickname, "Night Train"? Reporting to the Rams as a rookie
out of the Army in 1952, Lane was assigned to the care of Tom Fears, the veteran All-Pro
receiver who had a record player in his training-camp room. His favorite tune was the jazz
piece recorded by the Buddy Morrow Orchestra, "Night Train."
Lane later recalled, "Every day I’d be going to (Fears’) room and
he’d be playing it. His roommate, a guy named Ben Sheets, would say, ‘Here comes
Night Train!’ "
The nickname stuck, and so did Lane, for 14 seasons in the NFL with the Rams, the
Chicago Cardinals and most notably with the Lions.
It was a wonder he ever reached that level. He was abandoned when he was 3 months old.
Ella Lane, a widow with two children, found him in a trash bin covered by newspapers.
A rough, tough teenager in Austin, Lane managed to get himself to Scottsbluff Junior
College in Nebraska, where he played football for one season. Then he signed up with the
Army and played on the team at Fort Ord, Calif.
In his NFL era, players were most likely to be from a Notre Dame or a USC, and
Scottsbluff J.C. came to be viewed as an aberration, close to the infamous "No
College."
The Rams found Lane at Fort Ord and suggested he look them up when he got through with
a four-year hitch in the Army. He was an unknown 24-year-old sensation at their ’52
training camp and easily made coach Joe Stydahar’s team as a starter. In a 12-game
rookie season, Lane intercepted 14 passes, a single-season record that stands to this day.
After that, quarterbacks worked the other side of the field, and Lane’s
interception chances diminished. His career total is 68, third-best after Paul
Krause’s 81 and Emlen Tunnell’s 79.
A knee injury ended Lane’s career in 1965. After that he did some college coaching
at Central State in Ohio and at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. He also had an
association with the Police Athletic League programs in Detroit where he was a
sought-after athlete in the Motor City.
Often visiting Canton, Ohio, for the annual Hall of Fame ceremonies, Lane was a
charismatic figure collecting a crowd of NFL people. There was strength there, in an
even-tempered, wise man who liked to laugh.
George Puscas, the longtime Detroit Free Press sportswriter, wrote that Lane was
"a special man, a special player who will live on in the memories of those who saw
him play. He was popular — as widely admired and loved as few professional athletes
ever become."
Super Bowl XXXVI and "Night Train" Lane — easy to remember, hard to
forget.
Bill Wallace has been writing about pro football for half a century and has been with
Pro Football Weekly since its inception in 1967. He is based in Westport, Conn. |
